U.S. patent number 6,347,795 [Application Number 09/573,660] was granted by the patent office on 2002-02-19 for gaming machine having a reel on which, along a circumference, symbols are applied.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Orion Casino Technology B.V.. Invention is credited to Antonius Laurentius Gerardus Maria De Leljer.
United States Patent |
6,347,795 |
De Leljer |
February 19, 2002 |
Gaming machine having a reel on which, along a circumference,
symbols are applied
Abstract
A gaming machine, comprising a reel, of which a circumferential
surface is divided into a number of fields, each suitable for
bearing a symbol (which is also understood to include a blank), a
microstep drive unit, which is suitable for positioning the reel
within each field in a number of angle positions and maintaining it
therein, a memory with a table whose locations contain enabled stop
positions, and random generator means which generate a random
number within the address range of the table, for addressing the
table therewith, in order to read out the enabled stop position
stored in the addressed memory location, and in order to rotate the
reel to the read-out enabled stop position.
Inventors: |
De Leljer; Antonius Laurentius
Gerardus Maria (Vught, NL) |
Assignee: |
Orion Casino Technology B.V.
(Bergen Op Zoom, NL)
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Family
ID: |
19866220 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/573,660 |
Filed: |
May 18, 2000 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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PCTNL9700636 |
Nov 20, 1997 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
273/143R; 463/20;
463/21 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F
17/3244 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G07F
17/32 (20060101); G07F 017/34 (); A63F
005/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;273/143R,138.1,138.2
;463/16,20,21,22 ;318/696,685 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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0 338 743 |
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Oct 1989 |
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EP |
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1 550 732 |
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Aug 1979 |
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GB |
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2 193 025 |
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Jan 1988 |
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GB |
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Primary Examiner: Harrison; Jessica J.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
LLP
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation application of PCT/NL97/00636 filed Nov. 20,
1997, now PCT Publication WO99/27506.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A gaming machine, comprising:
a reel of which a circumferential surface is divided in a number of
fields which each bear a symbol from several symbols, which may
include a blank;
drive means for rotating the reel;
memory means for storing data representing allowed rotational stop
positions of the reel where the reel is allowed to stop, the number
of allowed stop positions being greater than said number of
fields;
random number generator means for randomly generating an address of
a location of said memory means containing data representing an
allowed stop position; and
stop means for controlling the drive means to stop rotation of the
reel opposite a winning line at a rotational stop position which
corresponds to said randomly generated memory means address;
wherein adjacent rotational stop positions are less than
0,1.degree. apart from each other and for each field all allowed
stop positions are located within an arc of 2.degree..
2. A gaming machine according to a claim 1, wherein for each field
all allowed stop positions are located within a circumferential
length of the reel which equals the width of the winning line.
3. A gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the random number
generator means have a number range which is greater than the
number of allowed stop positions and the address provided by the
generator means is obtained by summing a random number to a
previously provided address and taking the sum modulo the number of
allowed stop positions.
4. A gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the drive means
comprise a stepper motor, and command means are provided for
controlling the drive means in such a way that, during a
calibration step, the reel is moved stepwise through an angle
between a fixed reference point provided on the reel and a machine
specific marking point provided on the reel to determine the number
of stop positions passed along a stationary marking point, and in
which after the calibration step said number is added as offset
value to a data representing an allowed stop position read from an
address provided by the random generator means.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a gaming machine comprising a reel of
which a circumferential surface is divided in a number of fields
which each bear a symbol from several symbols, which may include a
blank, drive means for rotating the reel, memory means for storing
data representing allowed rotational stop positions of the reel
where the reel is allowed to stop, the number of allowed stop
positions being greater than said number of fields, random number
generator means for randomly generating an address of a location of
said memory means containing data representing an allowed stop
position and stop means for controlling the drive means to stop
rotation of the reel opposite a winning line at a rotational stop
position which corresponds to said randomly generated memory means
address.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,451 discloses three types of prior art gaming
machines, i.e. a standard gaming machine, a multiple stop gaming
machine and a virtual reel gaming machine.
A standard gaming machine typically employs reels which have one
stop position for each symbol (or indicia) on the reel, each stop
position having one random number associated with it. To stop a
reel in a standard gaming machine, a random number is generated and
the reel stopped at the stop position associated with the random
number.
A multiple stop gaming machine employs reels having multiple stop
positions for many of the symbols on the reel and fewer to one stop
position for higher paying symbols. Each stop position has only one
random number associated with it. To stop the reel a random number
is generated and the reel is stopped at the stop position
associated with the random number. Because of the different numbers
of stop positions for the symbols the odds of winning can be
differentiated.
A virtual reel gaming machine employs reels typically having one
stop position associated with each symbol and a number of stop
positions have multiple random numbers associated with them. A
gaming machine of this type is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No.
4,448,419.
With all said prior art machines a random number is generated and
the associated reel is stopped at the stop position associated with
the generated random number.
The gaming machine proposed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,451 includes a
number of rotating symbol bearing reels, each reel having several
stop positions associated with each symbol on the reel. A specially
designed reel mapping scheme allows one standard reel stop control
software routine to control the stopping of the reels when the
machine is operated as standard gaming machine, multiple stop
gaming machine or a virtual reel gaming machine. According to said
document, to provide gaming machines to play one out of a standard
type game, multiple stop type game or virtual reel type game,
gaming machine manufacturers had to develop different reel stop
controls including different software routines for each game type,
while the software development for the different types of games was
considered extremely costly. Therefore, to reduce costs, the
machine with selectable play type using one standard reel stop
control software routine was proposed.
With the combined gaming machine disclosed by U.S. Pat. No.
4,711,451, for a plurality of reels of the machine a single
software routine is used for each of the reels in turn. To make it
possible to have the combined machine operate in accordance with
one of said prior art individual machines, the combined machine
comprises three memory arrays, i.e. a mapping index array, a reel
stop map and a single reel map. To have the combined machine to
operate according to a multiple stop gaming machine locations of
the mapping index array contain a sequence of offset values of
indexes referring to physical reel stop positions where the reel is
allowed to stop. Said memory locations containing indexes for
allowed reel stop positions form a sequence of memory locations
without intermediate memory locations of unallowed stop positions.
With a sequence of k allowed stop positions a random generator has
a random number range of 0-(k-1), each referring to a respective
memory location of the mapping index array containing said indexes.
After having generated a random number the index of the memory
location addressed by the random number is read. From the read out
index addresses are calculated for a memory location of each of the
reel stop map and the symbol reel map. An addressed memory location
of the reel stop map contains stop position data for driving means
where the reel must stop. An addressed location of the symbol reel
map contains symbol data of a specific symbol from P+1 different
symbols.
To have the combined gaming machine operated as a standard gaming
machine or a virtual gaming machine the contents of the mapping
index array must be altered and by doing so the addressing schemes
for the reel stop map and the symbol reel map are changed. Under
all circumstances the reel stop map must comprise a number of
memory locations with equals the number P+1 of symbols times the
number n of possible stop positions per symbol. The symbol reel map
must always comprise P+1 locations for P symbols. The mapping index
array must have the same number of memory locations at the maximum
as the reel stop map has, which is the case when operating the
machine as a multiple stop gaming machine.
To make it possible for the combined gaming machine to operate
according to any of said individual gaming machines the reel stop
map must have memory locations for all possible physical stop
positions, the number of symbols must be maintained under all
circumstances and all symbols must have identical circumferential
dimensions under all circumstances. Since the same software routine
is used for several reels, the number of symbols for all reels must
be identical. In addition, a random number generator must be
designed to have a number range which equals the number of allowed
stop positions. Therefore, for any change of the number of allowed
stop positions the random number generator must be changed too and
must be calibrated again, which is very time consuming and
costly.
With the combined gaming machine using said one standard software
routine, although the number of stop positions associated with each
symbol on a reel could be any number, said number is considered to
be rather small in practice in view of the requirement of reducing
costs mentioned in the document, where a greater number of stop
positions would increase the hardware and the complexity of mapping
schemes for said one standard software routine. As a result said
combined gaming machine is not suitable for having a reel stopped
with a very high price paying symbol opposite a winning line with a
very small probability.
EP-A-0338743 discloses, in its prior art part, a multiple stop
gaming machine having two reel stops located very close together
for certain symbols on the reels and one stop for other symbols.
The symbols having two reel stops will have twice the probability
of being stopped in a winning position, thus effectively decreasing
the odds that a symbol with only one reel stop will appear in the
winning positing. It is not substantiated what is meant by "very
close together", how many reel stops are associated with each
symbol field where the reel is allowed to stop or not, and how a
distribution of allowed stop positions among unallowed stop
positions must be.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a multiple stop gaming
machine which does not have said drawbacks.
To this end, the invention provides a gaming machine comprising a
reel of which a circumferential surface is divided in a number of
fields which each bear a symbol from several symbols, which may
include a blank, drive means for rotating the reel, memory means
for storing data representing allowed rotational stop positions of
the reel where the reel is allowed to stop, the number of allowed
stop positions being greater than said number of fields, random
number generator means for randomly generating an address of a
location of said memory means containing data representing an
allowed stop position and stop means for controlling the drive
means to stop rotation of the reel opposite a winning line at a
rotational stop position which corresponds to said randomly
generated memory means address, wherein adjacent rotational stop
positions are less than 0,1.degree. apart from each other and for
each field all allowed stop positions are located within an arc of
2.degree..
The stepping motor can provide a very great number, which number
may be over 10.000, of rotational stop positions of the reel. By
allowing only those stop positions to actually stop the reel which
are difficult to distinguish with respect to the winning line by
the naked eye, if opposite the associated field at stand still of
the reel, the gaming machine appears to the player as a standard
gaming machine or virtual reel gaming machine but with the
provision of showing few symbols with a much smaller chance for
higher prices.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the
explanation of an embodiment of the invention which follows with
reference to the drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a gaming machine according to the
invention; and
FIG. 2 shows a chart for explaining the operation of the gaming
machine of FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The gaming machine shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 comprises a
reel 10 with a circumferential surface 11 which is divided into a
number of fields 12. A symbol, such as a pear 15, a cherry 16, a
bell 17 and a bar 18, can be placed in each field 12. In this
description an empty field 12 (blank) is also regarded as a symbol,
namely as something of significance.
The reel 10 is connected to a shaft of a stepping motor 20. The
stepping motor 20 is controlled by a drive circuit 21. The drive
circuit 21 and the stepping motor 20 are suitable for driving the
reel 10 to and maintaining it in more angle positions (microsteps)
than the number of poles or double the number of poles of said
stepping motor. For this purpose, use can be made of a geared
transmission (not shown) between the motor 20 and the reel 10, in
such a way that the motor 20 performs several revolutions for one
revolution of the reel 10. However, the stepping motor 20 and the
drive circuit 21 preferably form a microstep drive, in which, with
a suitable electrical control by the drive circuit 21, the rotor of
the stepping motor 20 can assume a relatively large number of
stable angle positions between adjacent poles. Such a microstep
drive mode is described in SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, "data on
disc", compact disc CDDATASH197, 1st edition 1997. By using a
microstep drive there is no problem with mechanical play, and the
maximum achievable speed of revolution of the reel 10 can be
higher.
A window panel 23 of an otherwise closed console (not shown) is
fitted opposite a part of the circumferential surface 11 of the
reel 10. At least one field 12 of the reel 10 is visible through
the window panel 23. The window panel 23 has a marking, such as a
"pay-out line" 24 parallel to the axis of rotation 25 of the reel
10 and the motor 20.
On the reel 10, for example on a "spoke" 27 thereof, a mark is
placed, for example in the form of a projection or flag 28, which
can pass through a slot of, for example, an optical bridge detector
29 during the rotation of the reel l0.
The drive circuit 21 is fed by a processor 30, which is connected
to a memory 31, a data input device 32, a rotate command switch 33,
a stop command switch 34 and a step command switch 35.
When the rotate command switch 33 or the stop command switch 34 is
actuated by a player of the machine or by other means inside the
machine, the processor 30 controls the microstep drive unit 20, 21
for rotating or stopping the reel 10 respectively.
The processor 30 operates with a program, the instructions and
corresponding data of which are stored in the memory 31 or in a
separate memory. A subroutine of the program operates, as known per
se, so as to generate one or more random numbers. Of course,
instead of such programmatic random generator means, a separate
random generator (means), linked to the processor 30, can be
connected.
Although only one reel 10 is shown in FIG. 1, a gaming machine will
generally have several such reels, each having its own microstep
drive unit 20, 21 and a step command switch 35. Depending on the
symbol or the combination of symbols visible beneath the pay-out
lines 24 of the reels 10, a pay-out or no pay-out is made to a
player of the machine.
The operation of the gaming machine shown in FIG. 1 will be
explained below with reference to FIG. 2.
As an example, it is assumed that the circumferential surface 11 of
the reel 10 is divided into 20 fields and that the microstep drive
unit 20, 21 can position and maintain the reel in 10,000 different
angle positions. Each angle position or each step of the reel 10
then corresponds to an angle or arc of
360.degree./10,000=0.036.degree.. Further, in this example each
field has a range of 10,000/20=500 angle positions or steps or
possible stop positions of the reel 10.
In the example of FIG. 2, three angle positions out of the
available 500 angle positions of the field 1 where the reel 10 may
come to a standstill are allocated to the first field. These three
enabled stop positions could be distributed randomly within the
range of 500 positions. However, these positions are preferably
selected close together, so that a difference in the distance from,
for example, the centre of the corresponding stationary symbol
relative to the pay-out line 24 is imperceptible with the naked
eye. Although consecutive numbers can be allocated to the enabled
stop positions, for the sake of clarity of the drawing, one is
skipped between each pair of adjacent enabled stop positions in
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows further that six stop positions are enabled for the
second field, two stop positions for the third field, one stop
position for the nineteenth field, and seven stop positions for the
twentieth field.
If for all twenty fields together 200 of the 10,000 possible
positions are enabled as stop positions for the reel 10, the memory
31 contains a table with 200 memory locations, each containing one
of the enabled stop positions. In this example, the random,
generator means are then suitable for selecting a random number
from 200 possible numbers and delivering that number to the memory
31 as the address for reading a stop position from the
corresponding location of the abovementioned table.
As an alternative, the random generator means can have a range
which is greater that the number of enabled stop positions (200 in
the example), and the random number generated therefrom represents
a number of steps by which an address for the table is increased
modulo the number of enabled stop positions from the address
belonging to the last standstill onwards. As a result, the random
generator means do not have to be changed when the number of
locations of the table is changed and/or the same random generator
means can be used for several reels with identical or different
numbers of enabled stop positions, which is in contrast with known
machines.
When, during the rotation of the reel 10, the processor 30, using a
generated random number, has read an enabled stop position from the
table, the processor 30 controls the microstep drive circuit 21 to
make the stepping motor 20 stop in this stop position. In order to
ensure that no physical angle detection means are necessary, the
processor 30 preferably remembers which the last stop position was,
calculates the difference between this position and the read-out
new position and controls the drive circuit 21 to make the motor 20
take a number of microsteps corresponding to the calculated
difference between the stop positions.
The random generator means can be designed to generate a further
random number which indicates a number of revolutions of the reel
10 which, after actuation of the stop command switch 34, the reel
10 first has to make before the motor 20 rotates to the stop
position read from the table and is brought to a standstill there.
The abovementioned number of revolutions can be detected by means
of the flag 28 of the reel 10 and the optical bridge detector 29
which is linked to the processor 30.
After the reel 10 has been installed in the gaming machine, a
marking point made on the reel, or the centre of a symbol placed in
a field 12, can easily be aligned with a fixed mark, for example
the pay-out line 24. For this purpose, the step command switch 35
can be actuated so often that the abovementioned marks appear to
coincide to the eye. The number of steps or angle positions which
at that moment have been taken since the flag 28 passed through the
bridge 29 is subsequently always added as the offset to each
read-out angle position, in order to deliver a calibrated read-out
angle position. This means that, unlike previously, a laborious
mechanical adjustment need not be carried out for the alignment,
and additional mechanical means for that purpose can be omitted.
Since the offset can be any value of the number of steps or
possible angle positions, there is great freedom for applying a new
tape with symbols to the reel 10, and the tape can be applied very
quickly.
The data input device 32, which is present permanently or otherwise
in the gaming machine, can be used for creating and amending the
abovementioned table in the memory 31 with enabled stop
positions.
It will be clear from the above that the gaming machine according
to the invention can be substantially of universal design
physically, and yet can still easily be adapted to specific wishes
of customers, for example with a different chance distribution for
prizes, by enabling more or fewer stop positions for the different
fields and/or for changing the number of fields by applying another
tape with symbols, without this having to be carried out relative
to a specific reference point of the reel 10. Furthermore, the
gaming machine according to the invention is simple and
maintenance-friendly in particular as far as the mechanical design
is concerned.
* * * * *